OK, so here is my newest problem with the max...

I was driving just outside of Atlanta the other day, doing about 65 mph, and out of the blue, the engine had a really bad rattle, as well as a huge loss of power. The rattle just appeared, no sounds of anything breaking prior. Pedal almost to the floor produced next to no increase in revs, and obviously no acceleration. There was a grinding sort of sound, so luckily I was only about a tenth of a mile from the next exit. Coasted off the exit and hit a Waffle house parking lot. Just about the time I got to the parking lot, it died completely. I also noticed that the engine temp was pegged out. Once it died, it will not crank again. Has a pretty bad knock that *sounds* like it is coming from the back side (engine right) when trying to crank it now. No obvious leaks. Anybody have any ideas as to what the problem could be? Also now getting the following codes: P034, P0345, & P0021 that were not present prior to this happening.

Any ideas as to what it could be?

 

sounds like your engine is toast.. seriously. sounds like that aren't good. with the engine temp pegged and loud mechanical knocks, my bet is that you overheated it somehow (water pump failure? ran it out of coolant? coolant hose blew and you kept driving? no oil?), and then spun a bearing or threw a rod. Were there any puddles of fluid under the car when you stopped?

Check your radiator and see if there's any coolant in it. also check your oil and see if there's any in the engine. most likely you're going to find that one- or both- are empty.

I'd start shop for a new engine. www.car-part.com is a good place to look for used engines if you can't find someone parting a car out on this forum.

 

oh man your lucky it went that far...that engine is toast

 

Kinda thought the engine was done. Funny thing is that the fluids are all fine. Oil level is still good, coolant level is fine (no oil in coolant or vise versa), and no leaking fluids. The water pump is about 3 weeks old. Just a few minutes before the issue, the temp was fine thanks for the suggestions!

 

It seems really odd that all the fluids are completely full, as well as a working (?) water pump. I really don't want you to take this as a correct answer, because it's just a hypothesis, but could something be blocking one of the coolant hoses?

 

Coolant temp was probably pegged out then the rattling started.....well congrats you now have a solid piece of metal and you'll be better off getting another engine...dude maybe a 09-2012 7th gen motor!

 

Who did the waterpump? I'd be taking it to them. Soudns like workmanship/parts issue.

How many miles

 

I did the water pump

Pretty sure the install was fine, because I had put about 2000 miles on the new water pump.

 

Funny thing is, I had just glanced at my temp gauge just a minute or two before the issue. Temp was were it always is just before the rattle/knock started.

 

You're (02' Style) gonna do another engine or another car?

 

Which is it?

 

Looked down at guage, temp = normal

(2-3 minutes later)

Rattling/Knocking sound started

(about 1/10th of a mile down the road)

Car died, noticed temp pegged out

Better? Notice I said temp was normal just before the issue began?

 

Gonna do another engine from an '08 (probably) and maybe a new trans. my tranny has pretty high miles. I have heard bad things about rebuilds on those.

 

Found an engine from an '06 with 45k on the clock. Gonna pick it up and try to get going on removal of the bricked engine this weekend.

 

Turns out that the engine I thought I was going to get was not what the yard said. They told me that it had just over 44k on the clock. Then I decided to run a carfax on it, and I am VERY glad I did. Found out that the donor vehicle was totaled with almost 91k on the clock. I would have never known if not for running that carfax on it. Buyer beware! Found another for about $250 more that carfax confirms has 33k on the clock.

On another note, does anyone know if I need to swap over the upper oil pan from an '06 maxima engine to fit my '02?

 

If it's an auto block, yes (which of course it is since the Fing 6 spd is so rare ).

What are you doing about exhaust (or do you already have some mods)?

 

Probably nothing with the exhaust for now, though I keep watching vids of cars with a cattman cat-back set up. This is a work vehicle that I just keep to run up the miles on. I drive about 50k+/- (95% highway) a year for work, so the max is really just a beater for me now.

Does it make a difference that my car is auto already as far as the upper oil pan goes, or do I still need to change it?

 

Well, I am going through the process of replacing the toasted engine with one from a '06 max with 33k on the clock. I decided to take a look at the old engine while swapping ove the needed parts and I found the problem! The crank shaft was snapped just forward of where piston 5 attaches to it. Problem solved. Thanks to you all for the advice you offered!

 

Are you sure your fluids were fine ?? How does a crankshaft just snapp like that ?

Do you have any pics (cellphone) of the toasted engine ?

 

Good question. I know that the fluid levels were good. Possibly the water pump died or the thermostat froze up? I also noticed that the harmonic balancer sheared the keeper key off and destroyed the inside of the balancer. I will try to get pics of the crank next weekend.

 

Huh? We don't have those parts...

Straight motor swap should work for you, then. There's a couple things different. Knock sensor, fuel rails, and IM. There's some threads around.

 

Don't have what parts?

I did get the knock sensor, fuel rails, upper oil pan & IM swapped over. Also went ahead and swapped out all the timing chains & tensioner/guides. Anything else I need to remember to swap before I put the new motor into my car?

 

Harmonic balancer

That looks like all of it.

Are you still running stock exhaust manifolds? B/c you know, it's gutting time if so

 

Harmonic Balancer...AKA Crank Pulley. Sorry about that, I have heard several mechanics refer to them that way and I guess I picked it up.
A few of the bolts on the precat flanges dis-agreed with coming out so they snapped. Luckily, my dad has a metal working shop, so he is just gonna drill them and retap for me. Is there any possible draw back to hallowing out the precats?

 

No cons only gains You can either use antifoulers or an O2 sim as you'll most likely throw a code for the secondary oxygen sensors (lots of threads on this too haha).

I think most of us would take this time to put on headers

Yeah, I think on most cars the balancer and the pulley are the same piece and are notorious for failing over time *cough* GM products *cough* :P

 

Unfortunately, performance upgrades are out of the question on my max. Wife has threatened divorce. (might get away with hollowing the precats. Does it change the exhaust sound?). My performance upgrade will come in the form of a G37.

 

With stock catback the sound change is negligible at best, imo.
Even with headers and stock catback I didn't notice any change except a little more volume and throatiness at WOT.

Precats have to go. Leaving them in isn't an option regardless of what ppl think causes severe oil burning (unless you want to risk engine health and remove them with the engine in the car). I'd gut the main cat, too.